Mandarin / Mandarin Aldehyde

Compiled from the Note Identification Project Thread:

Mandarin Aldehyde - 2% aroma chemical in carrier oil. Oh-la-la. I perceive this as being a VERY synthetic smell. I adore mandarin as a fruit, but this aldehyde has an inital rotten mandarin smell that doesn’t appeal to me. Then it turns to a plasticky mandarin. Waxed mandarin peel. The smell is bouncing with vitality and can probably have a lifting effect on tired head notes, but it is unmistakeably fake. While drying down, it smells green to me. It is the scent of a plant I know, a bushy shrub with tiny white flowers, but I can’t come up with a name. It is rather tenacious, still there while the methyl pamplemousse has long gone.
Mandarin Aldehyde – really strange stuff more bitter than citrus. It does suggest mandarin orange but it doesn’t smell like a real one.
Mandarin Aldehyde – Now here’s a chemical that perfectly illustrates the useful properties of synthetics. Alone, this substance smells unattractive. It is like the first burst of citrus oil that comes off the peel of an orange—acidic, harsh, fizzy. Add it to natural citrus essential oil, though, and you get lively citrus fruit. It ramps up the zingy characteristic of the fruit.
Mandarin Aldehyde: dusty mandarine, like Aldehyde C12 infused mandarine peel.